Pelumi Onifade: Coroner issues 21-day ultimatum to LASUTH, DNA centre to submit autopsy result
The coroners’ court in Ikeja has issued an ultimatum to the chief medical director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital to provide the autopsy result of the body believed to be that of Pelumi Onifade, a Gboah TV journalist killed while covering the #EndSARS protests in 2020.
At the resumed hearing in the inquest on Friday, the investigating magistrate, Temitope Oladele, gave the CMD a 21-day ultimatum to submit the report to the court.
Ms Oladele also gave a three-week ultimatum to the director of the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre to submit the results of tests conducted on the body tagged 1385. Samples were taken from Mr Onifade’s parents and were previously sent to LASUTH.
In July 2024, the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court ordered the inquest after Media Rights Agenda sued the police and the state government over the death of the journalist.
Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji directed the attorney general of the state to carry out a coroner’s inquest to determine the cause of death and investigate the circumstances leading to Mr Onifade’s death, as requested by MRA.
At the resumed hearing, Alimi Adamu, Monday Arunsi, and Somto Afulukwe, counsels for the MRA, urged the coroner to order LASUTH to produce the autopsy result and the DNA centre to submit the result of the test conducted in 2020.
Mr Adamu recalled that the coroner had previously ordered the CMD of Yaba General Hospital to produce a report on the victim’s whereabouts and the status of the body within 14 days.
He said that after examining the court order and LASUTH’s report, it was clear that the report stated that body tagged 1385 had been transferred to the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba Mortuary for storage, not Yaba General Hospital.
However, he argued that the LASUTH report confirmed that an autopsy had been conducted and DNA samples collected had been sent to the DNA centre for analysis. He added that LASUTH was awaiting the outcome of the analysis.
He urged the court to order the DNA centre and LASUTH to produce the autopsy and DNA reports.
Consequently, Ms Oladele ordered the chief medical examiner at LASUTH to submit the autopsy report for body tag No. 1385 within 21 days, following autopsies carried out on six bodies received in November 2020.
She also directed the DNA and forensics centre to submit the DNA test results for the same body within the same period.
The matter was adjourned until June 23.
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